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The trending topic was redesigned with a keen focus on making it easier to see how other publications are covering a topic other than what people are talking about it, was made clear in another announcement made by Facebook earlier in May 2017. So, now as you click on a trending topic, you will see a carousel of stories from various other publications that you are able to swipe and view.

The publications that show in this section are determined by the level of engagement they are creating on Facebook, both around the article itself and the publisher as well as the other articles that are linking to it.

This card styled carousel look and feel is inspired partly by Facebook Paper; the company’s standalone news reading app. This carousel is still in the rolling out process in the United States.

Another aspect of trending makeover that wasn’t really touched earlier on Facebook’s announcement was how the social network is playing with a redesigned list of news stories that focus on headlines and not just trending topics alone.

The original look of the Facebook’s trending topic that the users pull up with a tap on the app search box, is a simple list of topics and begins like a list that cuts off later. These trending topics will appear in your own recent searches on Facebook.

However, if you are willing to access the trending news link that just popped up in Facebook’s navigation menu, you are going to see an entirely different trending section from the one discussed earlier.

The new stories include a headline, a photo, the name of the media outlet that is reporting it along with other resources instead of the old school just the “topic”, coupled with a word that could be a person or place along with a curvy arrow icon. For example, next to the headline, it might say: “Reuters and 100+ other sources.”

Plus, by adding the photo next to each item, there’s more room for expanded information – that is, a full headline and sourcing. The new section also gives stories a rank (#1, #2, #3,…etc.) Facebook’s prior announcement in May didn’t specifically detail how this Trending News section looked different from Trending Topics. Frankly, it’s all a bit confusing, because Trending Topics and Trending News don’t seem to be tied directly together at this point. For example, you could have the link to Trending Newsin your app’s main navigation, but still not have the new look for Trending Topics, which includes the carousel redesign. However, in that same post, we did get a little peek at Trending News – but it was referenced as being a part of a “small test.”

Facebook said earlier that it was testing a new interface that will add top three Trending News to the users’ news feed. In the screenshot, you were able to see the numbers of stories along with their photos which were ranked the highest in terms of numbers and engagement they have generated. These stories were identified by Headlines, instead of just topics. This integration of a “mini” Trending News section into News Feed is not broadly available. That remains a “small test,” we understand. But the addition of the Trending News link to Facebook’s navigation is already live on iPhone, and being trialed on Android.

Of course, any changes Facebook makes to Trending are sure to meet a lot of scrutinies. The company last year faced criticism when it removed its human editors who curated this section, to run Trending by way of algorithms instead. (And those algorithms soon screwed up.) The social network has more recently made several changes to address the spread of fake news and filter bubbles, as well. In this case, though, Facebook is not monkeying with how news is selected as “Trending,” only how it’s being displayed. The new Trending News section joins a number of other new additions to Facebook’s main navigation as of late, including the food ordering option,  Town Hall, weather, the Explore feed, and more. Not all these additions have stuck around – the new travel-focused City Guides section, for instance, has since disappeared.

So, this was the wrap of the trending news section with its link that is soon going to surface on the famous social media. for more trending tech-news, please keep reading our blog and don’t forget to subscribe for oven hot technology news that we bring to you as soon as its cooked.

The post Now You Can Check Out Trending News in Facebook’s Mobile App appeared first on Branex Official Blog.

The first method is the authentic one, the one that is given by the officials.

You can check how to get your page verified on Facebook? Or How to get yourself verified on Instagram?

The above methods are the ones suggested by the social media platforms themselves. But then there are those people who can take you to the easy route and get your account verified. The only condition is that you need to pay a little to get yourself verified.

Isn’t that illegal you may ask?

Well to answer that let us look at one of the tweets from Twitter:

“I mean if Mashable wants to pay for it, I can get you a blue check over night,”

How does the verification work?

There is a guy who knows some guy (the middle man of Instagram verification). Now with this method, there is no restriction of age or popularity. Whether you are a fresh drop out from college or you’re a marketer that is willing to leave an impression on their clients, you can get your account verified just with a price tag.

What is the price tag? The fee to verify your account varies from a branded energy drink to around $10,000, which depends upon a number of sources that are in the process or the direct purchase from the middleman.

For the Facebook price tag, a bit low. Maximum value to verify a page is around $2,000.

This benefit both the middleman and the user. To a middleman. Selling one to two verified accounts a month is sufficient for their whole month.

The sold service is not a good or a service that is sold separately on the internet. It can only be purchased via links and middleman.

Oh and yes Instagram is aware of this. As mentioned in their terms:

“You are responsible for any activity that occurs through your account and you agree you will not sell, transfer, license or assign your account, followers, username, or any account rights,”

What are the benefits of verified account on Facebook/Instagram?

The blue tick account is mainly a status symbol. It gives credibility to your account. Gives prime spot on search results pages and your influence reaches up to 700 million monthly active users.

On the grand scale, Instagram knows and supports this black market well. While anyone can apply for the account via the links mentioned above. The only problem is that the normal process takes so much time, so people go for this underground black-market tactic to get themselves verified.

Related Read: How to Write Instagram Captions That Drive Sales?

Who buys the verified accounts?

Even though some of the professional digital design agency owners don’t prefer this type of verification, there are some who goes the extra mile and take this approach.

For example, John (pseudo name of my friend) shared with me that he got the verified account from some reference guy, now after three years, he is fully immersed in this business.

He sells accounts to everyone. From individuals to corporations with some price tag.

Here is how the verification usually takes place in the black market:

Step1: There is usually an employee from Instagram/Facebook who is willing to take a bribe or he is just a friend. He is first contacted.

Step2: The middleman receives cash from the person who wants to get their account verified. The split is done among the employee and the middleman.

Step3: The employee at Facebook/Instagram submits a verification request which is obviously treated as high priority.

Step4: Verification gets done and the user can avail all the features of a premium verified account.

For a celebrity, they can easily get the verified account just by applying via the forms mentioned above.

But for every other user, you need to have a lot of patience to get your account verified. One friend of mine, who owns a digital design agency purchased and dumped his verified account just because he thought it was all illegal to get the account and use in this manner.

After that, he applied for the verification of another account in the normal way and got verified within twenty days.

Related Read: Humanizing Your Brand Will Engage and Retain More Customers

To conclude it all

Getting verified is surely important when it comes to the Facebook page or Instagram account. Whether you do it legally or illegally, in both cases you get to use the features of a premium verified account.

But as a marketer and a digital media strategist, I would never suggest going for the paid verification. Although you might get it all right. But there will always be that guilt in you. The bribe you paid to accelerate the process.

The post How ‘insiders’ at Facebook & Instagram make $$$ via illegal Account Verification appeared first on Branex Official Blog.

In 13 years’ time and the CEO as grown his social network from a Harvard dorm room to nearly 2 billion users and growing. Facebook has an identified mission of connecting the world together and for which the social network is now working on drones and other methods to bring internet connectivity to the unreached parts of the globe.

Zuckerberg has total control on the future of the popular social media network due to his majority voting rights. Zuckerberg has also joined the league of Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet as one of the richest persons of this planet.

Mark Zuckerberg has also committed to give away 99% of his wealth before he dies. Together with his wife Priscilla Chan he has already poured millions of dollars into education efforts globally and has promised billions more to initiatives related to curing the diseases in the world.

We have collected some highlights from Mark’s modest beginnings from Palo Alto, New York to becoming one of the most famous and powerful CEOs in the world:

Mark Zuckerberg was raised in an old fashioned town of Dobbs Ferry, New York. He was born to Edward and Karen Zuckerberg who were a dentist and psychiatrist by profession, respectively. Along with him, Edard and Karen had three more kids namely Randi, Donna and Arielle.

Mark was an intelligent child since birth. At the age of 12 he created a messaging program named “Zucknet” using Atari basic. He also used to code computer games for his friends at a young age.

Mark was an intelligent child since birth. At the age of 12 he created a messaging program named “Zucknet” using Atari basic. He also used to code computer games for his friends at a young age.

While he was at the renowned Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, he built an early music streaming platform, which both AOL and Microsoft showed interest in, however still in his teenage he rejected offers for an acquisition or a job.

His interests were not limited to computer programming only. In his early days he also became the captain of the Fencing team at his high school.

Soon after he started at Harvard University in 2002, he became famous for being a skilled developer. His first hit was “Face mash”, which was a hot-or-not style face app that used the pictures of his classmates that he hacked from the school administration dormitory ID files. It instantly got him 22,000 page views from 450 people within the first hour only. However, Harvard University ordered it to be taken down due to copyright and security concerns.

Facebook was started by him from his dorm room at the university with the help of his friends. He soon dropped out from the university to focus on the venture full time.

But before dropping out of the university, he met his now-wife Priscilla Chan. Priscilla told “Today’s” Savannah Guthrie that they met at a frat party on their first date, he told her that he would rather want to go on a date with her than complete his take-home mid-term.

Mark Zuckerberg was not always the refined gentleman as he is today. In the early days of Facebook, he used to carry business cards that read, “I am CEO, Bitch.”

Mark Zuckerberg also got lucky and received a privileged of being immortalized on the big screen. In 2010, ‘The social network’ put a dramatized version of Facebook’s founding story in theaters. It earned eight academy awards nominations however, Zuckerberg strongly maintains that many details portrayed in it were incorrect.

Today, Facebook makes billions of dollars every quarter by showing ads to its users. It has an active user base of nearly 2 billion people at the moment.

Zuckerberg took Facebook public on May 18, 2012. The IPO raised $16 billlion making it not only the biggest tech IPO in history but also made Zuckerberg the 29^th richest man alive overnight.

Priscilla and Mark continued to date throughout the Facebook’s evolution to greatness and finally tied the knotin a relatively low key event soon after the company went public. The event was apparently a surprise wedding which the guests thought was a medical graduation party for Priscilla.

The two enjoyed a high class honey moon in Italy. Flying on a private jet and staying at a 5-star hotel whose room costs €800 per night.

2015 brought a new joy to their lives in form of “Max,” their healthy little girl. “There is so much joy in our little family,” Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook.

They also announced their plan to sell 99% of Zuckerberg’s Facebook stock — worth about $45 billion at the time — to fund a new LCC called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The initiative will funnel the money towards issues like personalized learning, curing diseases, and connecting people.

Even before announcing this massive new effort, he and Chan had committed $1.6 billion to philanthropic causes, including donations to San Francisco General Hospital and the Center for Disease Control.

In September 2016, Chan and Zuckerberg promised $3 billion to curing the world’s diseases by the end of this century. “Can we help scientists to cure, prevent or manage all diseases within our children’s lifetime?” Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook. “I’m optimistic we can.”

At the age of mere 33, Mark Zuckerberg is among the very few people of the elite group who are worth more billions than the number of years in their age, but the famous and rich CEO is far from flashy and embodies a middle class life style.

Apart from philanthropy, Mark likes to spend his money on privacy. In October 2014, he shelled out around $100 million for 750 acres of secluded land on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. He angered locals by trying to force out people who owned small parcels of land sprinkled throughout his estate. He later dropped the lawsuits.

He also bought a $10 million mansion in San Francisco, and then proceeded to spend more than $1 million on remodeling and additions (like a $60,000 greenhouse).

And he is not afraid to spend Facebook’s money either. The company had some major acquisitions under its belt including $1 billion for Instagram, $19 billion for Whatsapp and $2 billion for Oculus. Zuckerberg was turned down by Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snapchat when he was offered to sell the venture to Mark in $3 Billion.

Zuckerberg is also among the people who are in a constant run to meet famous personalities around the globe that included the famous American President, Mr. Barrack Obama himself.

Just recently, in May 2017 Mark and Priscilla announced their second baby who is on the way. WE wish them all the best of luck!

The post Learn About the Life of Mark Zuckerberg, the 5th Richest Person in the World appeared first on Branex Official Blog.

These features are the latest round of public engagement features that Facebook added over the past few months. As part of the effort, the social media initially introduced Town Hall in March to help people discover their local politicians and contact them privately. Another similar feature that was added last month was a button, to contact local representatives within Facebook posts.

These products are directly in line with Mark Zuckerberg’s big mission for his company for the coming year. FB’s tagline is no more “connecting the world”, but it is a matter of building communities now. The CEO’s 6,000 world manifesto released earlier this year which was entirely focused on community building, similar to his speech at Harvard commencement in May.

“Our goal is to help people build the communities they want by making it easier for them to engage and have a voice in government – on a daily basis, not just Election Day,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement about the updates.

One of the new feature is voter badges. Facebook users can now opt in for a tag that will identify them as living in an elected official’s district, if they interact with anything shared by that elected local official. Facebook users will be asked to turn it on if they like, comment, or share a post of their elected official as long as they identify these officials within the Town Hall feature.

When this option is on, all the comments that are made at that moment or earlier by the users on the identified official’s post, will be showed with the voter’s badge. Beyond badges, Facebook is also adding constituent insights where users will be able to discover more stories that are related to their district. This feature is available to both voters and to the elected officials so that the officials can see what stories are buzzing in their districts. All these insights will be fully automated, so there remain no chance of any human molding any of the news stories to show. For elected officials, this feature is available in the Page Insights section of their Facebook Page. Page administrations will see a horizontal scroll of popular stories shared in their district.

For constituents, they can see the trending stories in a Community Tab on the elected official’s Facebook Page. Facebook is also introducing district targeting, where elected officials can choose for their posts to only appear in the News Feeds of people who are likely to be their constituents. They can also run polls to this same group of people.
When it comes to connecting with local politicians, Zuckerberg is doing his fair share. His New Years Resolution is to visit every state in America, where he is also connecting with politicians IRL. For example, he met Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana and live-streamed their conversation with Facebook Live.

Zuckerberg is also hosting Facebook’s first-ever Communities Summit later this month, where hundreds of administrators of Facebook Groups are invited.

“For the past decade, Facebook has been focused on making the world more open and connected — and we’re always going to keep doing that. But now it’s clear we have to do more. We also need to bring people closer together and build common understanding,” Zuckerberg wrote Tuesday in a Facebook post about the Communities Summit.

The post Facebook Badges – Let your Politicians Know Who You Are? appeared first on Branex Official Blog.